Today I had some extra time and was near Las Vegas Boulevard so I stopped in the Fashion Show Mall to photograph a Fashion Show. The mall has a full runway and model box that lifts out of the floor every hour on the hour Friday-Sunday from 12-5 pm. Each week they feature a different store that is located in the mall. The shows usually last 10-15 minutes and will have 6-8 models walking the stage three times each wearing fashions from the featured store. This week, the store was Forever 21 and they were showcasing fashions for “Festival Wear”. I had my Sony a6300 and a few lenses, and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to test the JPG setting ( Extra Fine) as I normally always shoot in RAW format. I captured one show using the Sony Zeiss 24-70mm at f/4 and the next show using the Sony 55-210mm variable F stop lens set at the lowest F stop according to zoom. I had the camera set to shoot the max burst rate (11 fps) and wanted to see how buffering would be compared to full RAW files as well as the image quality. The camera seemed to shoot longer bursts and the buffer did not lag shooting in JPG mode. When I got home to edit the images, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the images. The white balance was a little off, but there are many different light sources in the mall, so that happens in RAW too. Other than that, the shots were crisp and totally usable. When comparing to the back of the camera’s display, they looked pretty accurate. They were much faster to copy to my hard drive and import into Adobe Lightroom. The white balance was a quick fix using the eye-dropper tool. Other than that, the images were great! I will not switch to shooting in JPG, but in a pinch, if I have limited card-space or am shooting something with a ton of action and need more buffer room, I will give it a try! Here are some images from today’s adventures…

While working at the International Beauty Show (IBS) with Bay Photo Lab, I had the opportunity to photograph a runway meets live hair and fashion styling show put on by Lisa Yamasaki from Japan. This show incorporated traditional Japanese stylistic elements and pushed them in a daring, innovative new direction, giving fresh life for a new generation. Combining to the hair and fashion styling, several entertainers from Cirque du Soliel including an amazing singer (Nitza) intermixed and created a stellar performance within the already mesmerizing presentation.

Lisa’s concept demonstrated a mutation that brought a natural individual into something not only uniquely beautiful, but took her philosophy one step further, suggesting that empowerment of the individual and the addition of beauty to our lives could work to transform our world to a peaceful and majestic place. The transformative process added layers of complexity to the model. The hair and wardrobe started off simply and both were added to and embellished with layers of beautiful fabrics and other touches that created a masterpiece in the finished product. The nature of the outfits were opulent in their colors, fabrics, and design and suggested a feeling of royalty. It was almost as if the designer was trying to unleash the inner queen or goddess within the individual. The model’s gestures also suggested strength, power, and confidence. They sat down in one mode but got up in another, as if a new being emerged at the end of the transformation.

The Cirque du Soliel performers helped with not only the excitement of this performance, but also seemed to take on the role of entourage to the new evolved Goddesses.

Below are a selection of images from this magnificent show that I was honored to both witness and capture.

I have heard may great things about this lens and wanted to give it a try. I signed up for the Tamron loaner program and put this at the top of my list. I wanted to see just how fast it would focus on my Canon camera bodies. I wanted to see if the Vibration Compensation (VC) would help in the handheld, low-light situations that I frequently find myself in. As most of you know, I shoot many concerts and also love night photography. This lens is made for a Full-Frame camera (and can also be used on a crop body )! Talk about ultra-wide zooms! I will say that the lens is bigger than I expected and feels solid as it should, considering it has 18 glass elements in 13 groups and the front element is coated in Flourine for extra protection. For what I do, I need a lens that is sharp from corner to corner with little distortion and fast focusing ability in extremely low lighting conditions. I put the lens to the test capturing a friend’s band “Desire.” They are out of California and are a top-notch U2 Tribute band. As you can see, in low light and in back-lit situations, the lens is sharp! The lens focused fast and the VC feature was on for all of the images in this gallery. I was shooting in manual mode at f/2.8 and changing shutter speed and ISO based on the fast-changing lighting conditions of the show. I believe the photos will back up my words on this lens. This piece of glass is well worth it’s price tag and I highly recommend it!

On Christmas Eve, I had the opportunity to photograph a condensed version of the Nutcracker by The Pink Tutu Ballet Company at The Downtown Container Park by an all local cast. There was a large crowd sitting in front of the stage and many standing behind those seated. Many of the audience found themselves looking at the direct sun to see the details of the stage, but I was fortunate to found a vantage point from stage-right and captured a small sampling of an amazing performance. The capture of a story of a girl and her dreams on Christmas Eve was magical. Here is a selection of images from the performance.

On Saturday August 15th, Jordin Sparks made a special appearance on the Fashion Show Mall Runway to promote her newest album “Right Here, Right Now”. Jordin was the season 6 winner of American Idol on Fox. To promote her latest effort, she performed a high-energy 6-song concert in the middle of the mall and then had a meet and greet with the fans that lined the runway to see her sing. “Right Here, Right Now” will be available in stores on August 21, 2015. Here are a few images from the show:

Boston Proper livened up the Fashion Show Mall runway with a fashion show that was not at all typical. The Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas Strip is known for entertaining shoppers and heightening the shopping experience with a weekend fashion show on its unique runway that rises from the floor in the center of the mall each hour on the hour to highlight the retail outlets housed there. However, Boston Proper offered a fresh perspective on this well-known Las Vegas icon. As the spokes-model Tala said, “We are not from Boston, and we are far from proper.” The runway was designed to invite the audience into New York’s Central Park and introduce them to seven models showcasing three outfits each. Rather than display the “proper” fast-paced, attitude laden strut of average fashion shows, Boston Proper’s models strolled through the “park,” looking fabulous, and socializing with each other like friends. The models showcased Boston Proper fashions as the models “ran” into each other and revealed their “new purchases” from bags proudly displaying the Boston Proper logo. Some models even toyed with their phones or browsed the latest Boston Proper catalog while making their pass on the runway. Three male models were also featured “exercising” on top of the stage box where a live DJ set the tone of the show. I loved the concept, but the relaxed tone of the show and the models’ casual strolls did not match the high energy of the live music. Boston Proper has, however, upped the ante for originality and marketing. After the show, a spokes-model clarified the brand message, educated the audience about Boston Proper locations, and enticed shoppers to visit the store with a preview of the current promotions while brand ambassadors canvased the audience with Boston Proper catalogs and logo shopping bags. The concept and audience interaction was a welcomed change to the normal fashion shows, but the energy was lacking and failed to engage the shoppers throughout the entire fashion show. To see more of Boston Proper, find them on twitter: @Boston_Proper or Facebook: Facebook.com/BostonProper

I recently co-instructed a night photography workshop in Nelson, Nevada at Eldorado Canyon with a fellow photographer and it was awesome! The class was limited to 10 attendees and everyone arrived well before the classes were to begin. We planned an introduction and safety briefing to talk about potential hazards and sign releases when an attendee pointed out a rattlesnake right by where we were all gathering. Now that got peoples attention and awareness really fast. I kept talking safety as I kept an eye on the snake while my co-instructor, Jeff Knox went to get the property owner to deal with it. He came quickly and put the snake in a cooler and drove it down the road and set it free. Jeff and I split the class in half and started our one-hour lectures on our topics (Jeff taught Lighting a Vignette and Star Trails, I taught Capturing the Moon, Capturing the Milky Way, Light Painting a Scene, and Photographing a LED Performer with Second Sync Curtain Flash). The hour seemed to just fly by and then we switched groups and taught again for an hour. After the teaching portion of the class, we had scheduled a time for questions and answers and had cool gift bags to give everyone thanks to Sony Cameras, Sigma Photo, and Bay Photo Lab, but as I was showing what was in the bags, the sky opened up and it rained for about 15 minutes! After the rain stopped, all attendees got to go out on the photographic property and practice what they had just learned while Jeff and I walked around answering questions and helping individuals with achieving their goals in making some killer night shots! We ended the night at a little after 1am, and everyone seemed very happy with the class and the location. I did learn a few things from this experience as well,and will use that knowledge on my future workshops! I want to thank everyone who attended, and my co-instructor Jeff Know, as well as my assistant: Chuck Couture. I also want to thank Becka for being my model for the LED performer portion of my class. Here are a few images from my portion of the workshop: